Apartment demand still high despite housing rebound

Despite the rebound in for-sale housing, the nation’s apartment sector has posted strong performances over the past few years, data from MPF Research revealed.

After having cooled a bit previously, second-quarter apartment demand surged relative to last year’s level.

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Demand for 88,524 apartments registered throughout the country’s 100 biggest markets in second quarter. The absorption tally, up 69% from the second quarter 2012 volume, well surpassed the 33,291 apartments in communities finished during the April-June time frame.

MPF Research Vice President Greg Willett says some of the pent-up apartment demand is coming from young adults who have been living at home with their parents or in other combined-household situations.

"The number of new apartment renters entering the market exceeds those exiting to make home purchases."

The second-quarter national apartment occupancy rate rose to 95.3%, up from 94.9% in the first quarter. "While a slight uptick in occupancy during the second quarter is good news, the shifts recorded over the course of the past couple of years in large part reflect normal seasonality," Willett said.

He added, "The big-picture story is that the apartment market has been essentially full since the middle of 2011, and that it’s continuing to remain full even as we add a significant number of new rental properties and cycle out some previous apartment residents to home purchase. We’re adding enough new households for all types of housing to experience momentum at the same time."

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